Renault-Nissan K9K 1.5L Diesel, and its sales competition

This is a discussion on Renault-Nissan K9K 1.5L Diesel, and its sales competition within The Indian Car Scene, part of the BHP India category; The Renault Nissan K9K diesel engine is ramping up numbers fast and giving stiff competition to the Fiat 1.3 multijet ...

The Renault Nissan K9K diesel engine is ramping up numbers fast and giving stiff competition to the Fiat 1.3 multijet engine. Says businessworld.in. Though a Nov 2012 article, there is some comparison info available. Excerpts from the article.

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Satoshi Matsutomi, vice-president of product planning at Nissan Motors India says The Renault Nissan Alliance (RNA) is planning to make investments for a new engine plant in India as there is demand for diesel cars here. RNA plans to sell over 200,000 cars by 2015. If it is able to do so, it will be the fastest ramp up in the history of Indian automobile manufacturing. The biggest question he faces is making the most-efficient diesel engine ever.

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In the race to make the most-efficient diesel engine are Fiat, RNA, Ford and Toyota. RNA’s K9K diesel engine is able to achieve greater fuel efficiency with recirculation of exhaust gas, which reduces the level of nitrogen oxide. The new engine, which is part of the family that was developed by Renault in 2000-01, has a special spray system to introduce fuel.

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At present, the Fiat 1.3 multijet powers 10 car models in India, and K9K seven. In terms of volumes, though, the Fiat engine runs 321,980 cars compared to 41,384 by the K9K. Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and General Motors are Fiat’s biggest customers.

With the addition of the Sail sisters from Chevrolet, the Multijet stands at 12 and the K9K at 8 including the Fluence.

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Toyota’s D4D engines also sell more than the K9K series, and run about 75,000 cars.

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In terms of exports, the K9K engine is fitted in nearly 90 per cent of the 35,900 vehicles that RNA exports to Europe.

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The Renault Nissan plant near Chennai has a capacity of 400,000 vehicles and a flexi-engine assembly line. While the engine is assembled in India, its parts come from Europe. Renault Nissan boasts of 85 per cent localisation of its products, and it is the engine line that has to be localised next. It is for this reason, say sources, that the company plans to invest in a Rs 4,000-crore vendor park. RNA has already invested Rs 4,500 crore in India for its plant that integrates with 130 vendors.

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The current ruler of the diesel engine roost, however, is Fiat. It produces diesel engines at its 250,000 per annum-capacity plant at Ranjangaon in a joint venture with Tata Motors.

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Globally, 31 car models, including Opel, Lancia, Ford and 12 of Fiat’s own brands, use the Fiat engine. Its only significant challenger is the K9K series of diesel engines, which power 35 cars models globally, including all Renault Nissan cars.

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“Daimler recognises the progress made by Renault, particularly in terms of powertrain reliability and considers the K9K engine as a benchmark in this field,” says a source from Renault, adding that Daimler will use the K9K engine in some of its products.

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Industry insiders say that when Carlos Ghosn, CEO of RNA, visited India last year, he said in an internal meeting with top management that “Renault has to make a living out of India”.

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In July this year, Ford India increased its engine capacity in Chennai by 36 per cent to 340,000 engines per year. Its new facility can manufacture an additional 80,000 diesel engines annually

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Ford India has invested $72 million (about Rs 388 crore at Rs 54 a dollar)in the Chennai plant. Ford India is building another plant with a capacity of 240,000 cars in Sanand, Gujarat, with an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.

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Hyundai Motor India, which imports its diesel engines from South Korea, is also trying to match the demand for diesel cars in India and recently cleared an investment of Rs 400 crore for a powertrain facility.

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Volkswagen, however, has not yet invested in an engine facility in India.

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General Motors, which also sold more than 100,000 cars in 2011-12, invested $230 million (about Rs 1,242 crore) in an engine plant as early as 2010. The plant at Talegaon has a capacity of 160,000 units per annum. This is the first flexi-engine plant in the GM world. It can produce both diesel and petrol engines

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Toyota, which has for long avoided investing in an engine facility because of the absence of a mass segment car, has finally changed plans. The success of the Etios sedan and hatchback (60,300 units sold in 2011-12) has prompted it to invest Rs 750 crore in a 240,000 units per annum engine plant in Bangalore. It is also spending another Rs 1,600 crore to increase its overall production capacity in India to 310,000 units per annum.

One reason for the Nissan 1.5L diesel to offer high fuel economy & performance is the light kerb weight of the Micra & Sunny; they are the lightest in their respective segments. Of course, the relatively heavier Duster is a decent performer, and enjoys great economy too.

Are we talking about the refinement in high rpms? I found the refinement to be better in the K9K actually. And I believe that low noise comes even without any damping under the bonnet. I believe my Swift D makes more engine noise even with the damping in place, under the bonnet.

Are we talking about the refinement in high rpms? I found the refinement to be better in the K9K actually. And I believe that low noise comes even without any damping under the bonnet. I believe my Swift D makes more engine noise even with the damping in place, under the bonnet.

The most refined small car engine is the hyundai's 1.4 CRDi. It comes without any damping under the hood and it still is pretty refined. Its also pretty high revving for a diesel. But when it comes to drivability, the K9K and TDCi are tops.

IMO, this is not a very fair comparison. The 1.5 ltr. K9K (1461cc) can be used in a wider variety of cars than the 1.3 (1248cc) of Fiat. 1.5 can be put in a smaller car like Micra i.e. same segment as Swift, but it cant be plonked into cars larger than Dzire or Ertiga. SX4 seems to have a perceived disadvantage due to small engine. The K9K can even power up the Civic sized car i.e. Fluence, but not so the 1.3. We can see this deficiency in the total cars utilizing K9K and Fiat SDE.

Also, in India, there are license issues or rather there were license issues. Else, the numbers would be even larger. The 90bhp format of fiat unit came in Maruti line up quite late. Also, if Vista was made available with the 90 bhp format earlier, it would have meant more numbers.

Moreover, in almost all modern diesels where we see high power output ( read VGT being used ) the lower end torque and overall driveability suffers. This is also true for K9K. 110 Duster and 85 duster are good example to prove that.

IMO, we cannot compare the two as application range due to engine displacement is different and there is reasonably larger displacement difference.

Not that it adds to the numbers much, but what engine is the Premier Rio running on? I guess it's the DDiS.

When almost everybody eyes India as an export hub, why exactly is Volkswagen thinking otherwise?

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Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Are we talking about the refinement in high rpms? I found the refinement to be better in the K9K actually. And I believe that low noise comes even without any damping under the bonnet. I believe my Swift D makes more engine noise even with the damping in place, under the bonnet.

I do not know about the refinement at high RPMs in a Swift, but I felt the DDiS to be good on overall refinement. There is a typical clatter for the K9K, similar to the one on the Ford's 1.4 TDCi. The sound is obvious if you hone your ears on to these engines out on the road. The Micra and the Logan/Verito are the noisiest.

I guess it is not the damping under the bonnet that makes the cabin silent, but the amount of damping material going on to the firewall. My Micra lets in a typical frequency of the clatter more than it is on the outside. A momentary clatter, which is different from the usual one, just when you press the a-pedal and just after releasing it. If the clatter was uniform, I wouldn't have minded.

I found the Fiat 1.3MJD to be more refined than the K9K acoustically on the outside of the car (with the hood up) and also more refined while driving (new Swift vs Micra).

Eventhough the MJD felt good at higher RPM the K9K still is a solid performer with its two valve head and i wonder how the performance tables would be turned if the K9K had a better breathing 4 valve head like the MJD. Low end response would suffer but it will surely be a good performer at the top end eclipsing the MJD with its CC advantage.

One reason for the Nissan 1.5L diesel to offer high fuel economy & performance is the light kerb weight of the Micra & Sunny; they are the lightest in their respective segments. Of course, the relatively heavier Duster is a decent performer, and enjoys great economy too.

.The MJD is known for the great top end and the K9KE424 is known for higher FE.But the most drivable of the lot is the K9K.Next comes the 1.4 and 1.5 TDCi.

A colleague of mine recently had the chance to drive his boss' Cruze. I purposely asked him about the experience, and he was disappointed in its pickup (he drives a Santro). "It's a diesel, after all!" I said to comfort him.

Then I remembered when I had taken a test drive of the Pulse. I was reluctant to try a diesel, and I remarked to the salesman about the pickup and acceleration offered by the petrol engines I had driven so far, and he assured me the Pulse would not fail me. True enough, the Pulse was a different experience. I actually didn't notice I was driving a diesel. After telling me it was a 1.5 ltr engine as compared to the 1.3 ones on most other cars, the executive also told me I could expect > 20 for the FE figures.

What remains to be seen is how RNA would try to ramp up the numbers. Fiat tried it by supplying the engine to other manufacturers, but now they are running the risk of being known for engines and not cars. If RNA adopts a similar strategy, will it work or will it not? And if RNA don't supply engines to other manufacturers, will they be able to grow their dominance?

What remains to be seen is how RNA would try to ramp up the numbers. Fiat tried it by supplying the engine to other manufacturers, but now they are running the risk of being known for engines and not cars. If RNA adopts a similar strategy, will it work or will it not? And if RNA don't supply engines to other manufacturers, will they be able to grow their dominance?

Suzuki - GM - Fiat alliance helped Fiat to get the numbers in terms of engines sold. However, the MJD engines are being sold/(manufactuered under license) to TATA, Maruti, Premier, GM.

Most of the other manufacturers like VW group, Toyota, Hyundai have their own diesel engines and Honda is coming up with their own.

So the question of who would be the other manufacturers to plonk the K9K engines apart from the Renault- Nissan Group?